"What're you doing here?" A boy a little older than Guts asked, pointing a finger at him.

after a short bit of him being shocked anyone would talk to him, Guts answered, "I'm with the mercenary band."

A girl probably older than the boy asked, "What're you than? Some whore's son?"

"I'm a mercenary." Guts defended. He didn't know enough to deny whether or not his mom was a prostitute. Shisu wasn't, not by the time she took care of him at least, and his birth mother was a corpse, but that seemed almost worse.

The whole group laughed. There were six or seven in all, all with the same dark coloring and skinny like peasant children often were. That being said, Guts was still shorter than all of them as he was probably the youngest. It wasn't unheard of for local kids to approach him, but they hardly ever talked to him. Hardly anybody talked to him.

"A mercenary?" A girl started laughing again. "You look like you just left your mother's teat!" She then addressed the boy who spoke first. "If they're taking babies than maybe there's a chance you can join."

"I'm seven." Guts protested. At least he was pretty sure he was seven. He knew he was three when Shisu died, and Gambino kept track of that. The fourth anniversary had happened not too long ago.

His protest was largely ignored as another boy asked, "Whose sword is that?" He stepped closer to touch the sword strapped to Guts' back.

Guts took a step back out of reach saying, "Mine."

"But it's an adult sword."

"So?" True Guts wasn't fighting for real yet, still too small and weak to actually take on an adult, so he was still on support duty bringing spears, arrows, messages, etcetera. Guts was still training every day to get stronger. This sword was the key to his continued living.

One of the older girls declared, "I think you're lying."

"Yeah, if it's really your sword can I hold it?" Asked the boy again, reaching for it.

Guts took another step back, "No."

"Why not?" One of the girls asked.

"I'll give it back," Promised the boy, reaching for a third time.

Guts stepped back again only to lose his footing and fall back on his rear. Everyone was quiet for a moment before bursting into laughter. Again. Tears started to well up in his eyes, but he forced them away. Mercenaries didn't cry.

"Yup, totally a mercenary." One jeered, "Total klutz, him." Said another.

The oldest looking girl sighed and whispered something to probably the youngest in the group before saying louder, "Come on, enough of that. I know for a fact none of you have your chores done."

A chorus of, "But sis." Followed, but they all left with the girl. All except the younger girl. Guts sat on the ground eyeing her with suspicion.

"Don't you have chores?" He asked when it was apparent she wasn't going to say anything.

"I already did them." Her voice was small and she said it like she wanted to say more.

Guts was going to wait until she left and then figure out what to do for the rest of the day, but she wasn't going anywhere. The girl was avoiding his not exactly a glare, but he was definitely trying to get her to leave.

Finally after the semi awkward stare down she conceded and confessed, "I'm supposed to watch you and make sure you don't steal anything."

"I won't steal anything."

"Abigail thinks you're a thief."

"I'm not." Guts insisted.

There was an awkward silence which guts broke with, "So you're just gonna watch me all day?"

She nodded.

"Well, I'd go back to Gambino, but I'm pretty sure he'd get mad at me." Guts explained.

The girl nodded again.

Wanting to break this awkwardness, Guts asked, "Is there… anything you want to do?"

After thinking a few moments she said, "Follow me." and started along a path.

Guts did as directed and walked along side her. After sometime of walking she said, "I don't think you're lying."

"I'm not."

"Yeah."

Guts wasn't used to being around someone his own age, let alone a girl. He was used to being ignored or at least insulted. Some of the men in Gambino's group were kind enough, but Guts could tell it was mostly out of pity. Hopefully once he could actually fight in battles than he would be treated better, people would actually care about him.

Since people rarely talked with him, mostly at him, Guts was unsure what to talk about. This girl and him were probably as opposite as people got. He knew women apparently liked tales of battle and glory, but Guts didn't have any of those yet and this girl seemed different than the kind of women that hung around a mercenary band.

"You can see my sword." Guts said impulsively, taking the whole strap and sheath off to offer it. "I mean, if you want, I wouldn't mind."

She stared at the sheathed sword with her dark eyes. A few ticks past before she burst out laughing. It was a surprisingly loud noise that startled him. Guts smiled nervously unsure of what to do. He couldn't tell if she was laughing at him or not.

Seeing his confusion the girl said, "Do I look like someone who wants a sword?"

Guts shrugged. Everyone he knew had a sword or at least a good knife. Her laughter continued.

"I don't see what's so funny." Guts pouted.

"Oh," She looked a little sorry, "It's just… my brother would be so jealous if he found out I got to hold a sword and he didn't."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, he would say 'I'm older than you, why do you get to play with a sword'." She mocked her brother's voice, "He wants to be a soldier someday, but my family needs him to help out on the farm."

Guts nodded as if he understood, but not having a brother or any family besides Gambino he didn't. "Were they all your family?" He asked, slinging his sword back over his shoulder.

"Well, yeah." She answered, "Siblings, cousins, you know. They get a little annoying sometimes, but they're family."

Family…

"Race you to the bluffs!" She said suddenly, taking off running.

"But I don't know-" Guys started to protest before running after her.

Guts caught up with her and was immediately tugged behind a low stone wall that lined the path. A woman strolled by, but Guts couldn't see her well because of his hiding spot. He shot a questioning look at the girl who was still gripping his wrist. She was slightly out of breath but smiling.

Finding his voice he asked, "Why are we-"

"-Hiding?" She completed his thought still incredibly smiley. "I thought it would be more fun that way."

Guts didn't really how hiding was 'more fun,' but this girl was nice and she thought it was a good idea, so he'd go along with it.

"Come on." She said, tugging his wrist as she stood up.

Guts stood up with her and followed the girl's careful steps alongside the outside of the wall up to the cliff side. A small switch back went up the cliff and they started up the trail, although it was so narrow that they had to go single file. She let go of his wrist before going first up the path, carefully treading in her bare feet to avoid the rocks and bramble bushes that grew sporadically. Guts followed in his little-bit-too-big boots, kind of wishing he was going first so he could stomp the brambles so she wouldn't have to worry.

They were almost to the top when the girl lost her footing on some loose rocks. Guts reached out almost automatically to catch her fall and grabbed her hand. For a second it seemed they both might go over, but with some effort he pulled her back up. She was too shocked to scream; all of it happened so fast. They made their way to the top quickly, standing away from the edge.

"You're stronger than you look." She said after calming down.

Guts looked out over the cliff. It overlooked the entire town and surrounding countryside, and was tall and steep enough that falling would probably hurt really bad if not kill.

Turning his focus back on the girl, Guts wasn't sure how to respond. He wanted to shoot back, 'well you're heavier than you look,' but he didn't really know how much a girl her size should weigh and judging from the way she blushed slightly he realized she must've meant it as a compliment. He finally decided on, "You're welcome."

She smiled again and sat down, Guts quickly joining her. He set his sword on the ground beside him to be more comfortable.

"This is where we go to hide from the fighting." She explained, answering a question he never asked. She pulled her knees to her chest, seeming to shrink.

"Fighting?" Guts asked.

"When the badmen invade, they like to fight in this town. We're close to the border." She recited. The girl seemed distant as she recounted more, "I've seen it at least twice that I remember, my siblings more. The bad men set things on fire and steal food and supplies, kill people too slow to get away, steal horses or just kill them too. I don't understand it. Why do they have to destroy my home? We've never hurt anybody." She hung her head in what must have been shame when she said, "And I can't do anything about it. I'm scared."

Again Guts didn't know what to say. He sort of understood it, how these bad men acted. It was the way some of Gambino's men acted, and while Guts didn't necessarily like them, Gambino let them stay so they couldn't be that bad. Right? Still, this obviously bothered the girl and Guts didn't like that more. Then inspiration struck.

He opened and searched through his bag, rifling through his meager belongings to find a relatively small dagger. It was a simple blade with a leather sheath, given to Guts by a man who pitied him after seeing the adult sized sword he was trying to wield. The man said it had belonged to his sister who had died of some whore's disease, that it was a better fit for someone so small. While sharp and easily concealable, Guts hardly used it because 1) He fought with a sword, or was going to anyways, and 2) Gambino had given him one of his old knives so Guts didn't need this one.

Guts pulled out the sheathed dagger and offered it hilt first to the girl. It took a few seconds for her to figure out what it was.

Before she could say anything, Guts said, "I don't need it, and It's a woman's knife anyways, so a girl should have it." She stared at it with her dark eyes. "It should help protect you, better than always running at least."

When she didn't respond he grabbed her hand and closed it around the dagger's hilt. He let go and she slowly pulled it into her chest, almost like an embrace.

"Thank you." She said finally, "I'll take care of it."

The girl suddenly lunged and gave him a quick hug, squeezing him tightly before pulling away. Guts froze at the contact, and stayed frozen for a while. No one had hugged him since Shisu, and even those memorie seemed far away, constantly getting hazier and hazier. Sometimes they felt more like dreams than anything else.

He stood up abruptly and announced, "I'll teach you how to use it."

She nodded, the blush they shared slowly fading.

They trained, or rather played for the rest of the day. When the sun skimmed the horizon they headed back to their respective parties, sharing a 'See ya' from the girl and a wave from Guts before parting. In the morning Gambino's band left, off to fight some battle, and Guts along with them, soon forgetting the kind girl and her dark eyes.

…

Casca had all of her smaller daggers and knives out in preparation to do her routine cleanings. Even though most of them she didn't use on a regular basis, the methodical cleaning was relaxing in a way, and after the most recent battle, relaxation was something she need desperately.

This particular day however, was decidedly less calming as the source of at least half her stress decided to 'help' her. It was probably by some prompting of Jeaudo or Griffith that he was doing this, his way of apologizing without actually apologising. After the way he disregarded their careful plans and caused her company to have to cover his butt so none of the enemy would break through their lines. Somehow they'd won the battle without too many losses, in half the time expected, but she still had to command two fronts while he tore through the enemy. He still fought like he was alone, like he wasn't responsible for the lives around him, how, as much as she hated to admit, if he died they would lose so much momentum.

Despite all of that, she had to admit he did a good job of cleaning. Looking at his own gear you wouldn't guess that, but for other people it was like he went on autopilot. Must've been made to clean blades when he was younger, She figured, if he'd been in mercenary bands his whole life like he claimed, it would make sense.

Guts was polishing a small dagger when he stopped.

"Where'd you get this one?" He asked trying to sound nonchalant but Casca could tell he was hiding something.

Casca looked closer at the knife in his hand. It was her oldest dagger, simple and small, but razor sharp. Recalling the memory she answered, "It was given to me a long time ago."

"From a boy?"

Eyeing him suspiciously, Casca said, "How did you-" Then rethinking her response asked, "Why do you care?"

"It's nothing." He said, putting the dagger back into its sheath and on the 'cleaned' towel. "I just used to have one like that. I always thought it was kind of girly."

"How can a knife be girly?" She asked, annoyance level rising.

He started working on another knife saying, "I dunno, not saying I was all that smart as a kid."

"I'd believe that." Casca muttered.

"Anyway," Guts continued, sending her a dirty look, "I gave it away a long time ago to a girl."

"I never pictured you as a charmer."

He scowled at her denying, "It wasn't like that." He was too flustered for it to be anything but 'that', "It's just weird." He continued, "I had completely forgotten, but this just like bringing it all back. So it was a boy who gave it to you?"

Casca nodded albeit reluctantly, "Before any of this, when I was young."

"Weird."

"Wait, you don't think-"

"Just saying it's a weird coincidence."

Casca turned away from him saying, "Whatever."

Because there was no way that boy could've been Guts. That boy had been shy and kind, and most of all thoughtful. Not at all like Guts, who was selfish and as reckless as they come. He wasn't the kind of man to give a knife to some girl he just met out of sympathy because that required caring about other people and empathy, two things Guts lacked.

As Casca studied him out of the corner of her eye as subtly as she could she decide superficially they may look similar. With the ridiculous sword, dark messy hair, it was almost uncanny, not that she remembered the boy all that well. It was hard to imagine Guts without his scars and bulk, especially the prominent scar on his nose, but she supposed they were all young once.

Accidentally making eye contact, Guts sighed, "Look, just forget I said anything. It doesn't matter anyways."

"What's to say," Casca said, agreeing with him for once, "It's just a weird coincidence."

But in both of their hearts they knew that was far from the truth.

A/N: So the first part takes place when Guts and Casca are like seven. For more of a setting, Gambino's mercenary band is passing through Casca's village and is spending the night/resupplying. I wanted it to take place before Guts got his scar, but I wasn't sure when that was, so just know he doesn't have the nose scar yet. Both of them act differently as children because this is before most of Guts' trauma so he still just a sweet kid, and Casca is a powerless peasant's daughter since she hasn't met Griffith yet.

Also sorry about the dagger/knife thing. I don't know the difference or if it matters and referring to something as 'the small dagger' over and over again is kind of boring.

The second part takes place in the 3 year time skip (probably like year 1½.)